"There's been some storm activity and some areas have received some rainfall," he said.

"In the areas that the fires were, that was very good but unfortunately a lot of areas where we've got fire activity the rain did not appear.

"Fire crews are back out again today doing work to make sure those fires stay contained."

Cairns residents have woken to a smoky haze and falling ash, with winds pushing smoke from several fires on the Tablelands towards the coast.

Rain has dampened a fire at Tumoulin, while fires are still burning at Davies Creek near Mareeba, Murray Upper and Kennedy near Tully.

In Townsville, a fire that threatened homes at Mount Louisa yesterday is now burning under control.

A large grassfire yesterday at Chelona, near Mackay in north Queensland, has been extinguished.

Central Qld

Fires are still burning at Stanwell, Gogango and Agnes Water in central Queensland but no properties are threatened.

The Rural Fire Service says it is confident anyone who deliberately lights fires will get caught.

Rural operations manager Brian Smith says some of the central Queensland fires were deliberately lit and they are working closely with police to find the culprits.

"Police have technology now where they can identify particular vehicles in areas but often people might see a particular vehicle, a particular person in the area, that suspicious activity in those areas at that time," he said.

"A warning to you - we know who you are.

"We will be actively out there trying to prosecute people who are lighting fires and those suspicious fires.

"We're putting every effort into that - it's very disappointing, particularly on those days we have a very severe fire danger.

"We have volunteers and staff out there risking their lives trying to to protect properties and people."